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April
17, 2006
VOL.
44, NO. 8Oakland,
CA
‘Gospel
of Judas’ paints favorable image
‘Gospel of Judas’ not likely to resolve theological debates, says bible scholar
WASHINGTON
(CNS) -- A gnostic writing long thought to have been lost, the Gospel
of Judas, was put on display April 6 at the National
Geographic Society in Washington.
The document, a third-century Coptic translation of what had originally
been written in Greek before 180 A.D., paints Judas in a more sympathetic
light than his well-known role as Jesus’ betrayer in the canonical
Gospels.
In it, Jesus said Judas would “exceed all” of the other disciples,
“for you will sacrifice the man that clothes me” -- a reference
to Judas’ impending betrayal of Jesus. It is also an allusion to
gnostic belief that held the spirit in higher esteem than the body, and
that, through the liberation of Jesus’ body, his spirit would be
freed.
The Gospel of Judas was mentioned in a book condemning heresies that was
written by St. Irenaeus, bishop of Lyon, France, in 180 A.D.
The find, though, was touted at an April 6 press conference as one of
the three most significant discoveries of sacred writings of the past
century, along with the Dead Sea Scrolls, thousands of fragments of biblical
and early Jewish documents discovered between 1947 and 1956, and the Nag
Hammadi Library, a collection of 50 texts found in Egypt in 1945.
In the Gospel of Judas, “Judas is portrayed as the only disciple
who knows Jesus’ true identity,” said Gregor Wurst, a professor
of Catholic theology at the University of Augsburg in Germany and one
of the chief translators of the Gospel of Judas from the Coptic.
Passionist Father Donald Senior, president of the Catholic Theological
Union in Chicago, said it was doubtful the Gospel of Judas would shed
new light on the New Testament Gospels or serve as a source of inspiration
to rival them.
The New Testament canon “was not chosen by some elites” without
regard to how early Christians used the sacred texts available to them,
Father Senior said. The canonical Gospels had already enjoyed wide use
because they “nourished” early Christians, he added.
But as to whether the Gospel of Judas would give insight into gnostic
thinking, Father Senior said the answer was “emphatically yes.”
He later said there would always be questions about why a member of Jesus’
inner circle would betray him.
Marvin Meyer, a Bible and Christian studies professor at Chapman University
in Orange, Calif., and another chief translator, said it was interesting
to note that -- as opposed to the canonical Gospels, which are Gospels
“according to” -- this document is a Gospel “of.”
It is clear that neither Judas nor the Evangelists actually wrote the
books that bear their names, Meyer said. But what is less clear is whether
the Gospel of Judas is “a Gospel ‘about’ Judas or a
Gospel ‘for’ Judas.”
The Gospel of Judas, which contained three additional Coptic documents,
was unearthed in El Minya, Egypt, in the 1970s. An Egyptian trader in
such antiquities tried to sell them in the United States but could not
get the price he sought.
The fragile pages stayed for 16 years in a bank safe-deposit box in Hempstead,
N.Y., where they deteriorated. The documents then changed hands on a couple
of occasions, and later spent some time in the freezer compartment of
a refrigerator in Ohio, where they suffered more deterioration.
Because of the deterioration, only about 80 percent of the documents have
been restored and, despite the best efforts of restorers, it is
unlikely they will ever be fully restored.
The Gospel of Judas find spawned a television special that was scheduled
for Palm Sunday, April 9, on cable’s National Geographic Channel.
It also is the cover article of the May issue of National Geographic magazine.
Two books, “The Gospel of Judas” -- which contains an English
translation of the Coptic text -- and “The Lost Gospel: The Quest
for the Gospel of Judas Iscariot,” have been published by National
Geographic Books.
Also newly published is “The Secrets of Judas: The Story of the
Misunderstood Disciple and His Lost Gospel” by James M. Robinson,
a retired professor of Coptic studies who had been offered the documents
for $3 million but could not raise the funds.
Asked to gauge the impact of the find, Elaine Pagels, a professor of religion
at Princeton University, said at the press conference that the Gospel
of Judas would likely be long discussed in terms of understanding better
early Christian thought on the relationship between Jesus and Judas.
She then quoted the end of the Gospel according to John: “There
are also many other things that Jesus did, but if these were to be described
individually, I do not think the whole world would contain the books that
would be written.”
‘Gospel of Judas’ not likely to resolve theological debates, says bible scholar
WASHINGTON
(CNS) -- The Gospel of Judas, a gnostic gospel whose discovery was loudly
trumpeted in early April, is not likely to resolve any ongoing theological
debates about early Christianity, said one biblical scholar.
But one theologian who has read the Gospel of Judas said it would be necessary
to go through the text “line by line” to determine if any
authentic teachings of Jesus were included.
The theologian, Maryknoll Father Joseph Veneroso, who is also the publisher
of Maryknoll magazine, noted that other gnostic texts -- rejected for
use in the New Testament canon -- contain information the canonical Gospels
lack, such as the names of Mary’s parents, Joachim and Anna, as
well as that of Veronica, the woman who wiped the face of Jesus as he
was carrying the cross.
“There’s probably an element of truth to it (the Judas text).
There are some traditions in Catholicism which we get from the gnostics,”
Father Veneroso said. “Then we get into a chicken-or-the-egg thing,”
whether inclusion in a text spurred the tradition, or vice versa, he added.
Early Christians used the term “gnostic” to describe various
sects that arose in the second century which exalted arcane knowledge,
mixing Christian belief with pagan speculation and theories.
Christopher Mount, a professor of early Christianity at Vincentian-run
DePaul University in Chicago, said the Gospel of Judas is “very
significant, but it’s probably not significant in the way it’s
being presented to the public” following its release.
“That media claim that the Gospel of Judas is causing us to re-evaluate
the role of Judas in relationship to Jesus, part of that is being driven
by an interest in making a portion of that text relevant to a Christian
audience,” Mount said.
In the long run, Mount added, the Gospel of Judas will likely be of more
value to historians.
| A brief explanation of gnosticism By Catholic News Service |
